Rebellious Contract Beast

The light snow slowly fell on this ancient city, covering the traces of past history bit by bit.

Looking out from the roof, the snow all over the sky, the tiles below, the mottled walls and the huge courtyard are interwoven into a picture scroll, condensing the beauty of the years. The breeze, with the coolness in the snowflakes, floats on the cheeks and touches the heart. More snowflakes flutter down, landing on the streets and alleys, adding a bit of charm, and landing on the shop signs, stalls piled with containers, and lit lanterns, like a poem and a painting, making people intoxicated.

The mountains and rivers in the distance are covered with snow, as if they came from the sky, hanging above the clouds, misty and beautiful. The ancient mountain roads are winding and the embellishment of light snow adds a bit of mystery and beauty.

"Don't damage the roof." Seeing the other party walking towards him, Shen Yi couldn't help but say something.

The girl rolled her eyes at him and replied, "I should be the one saying this."

"How many times have I come up here? When have you ever seen me crush something?"

"Okay, okay, my Xuan Li is the lightest." He Jian Chuyun said in a bad-mouthed way of approval. He couldn't help shaking his head, and then, like him, he looked into the distance.

“The scenery here is really beautiful.”

"Of course. Eh, you're not going to the winery?"

"Let's go later. There's no rush now."

Shen Yi turned his head and looked at her for a while. The girl's profile had beautiful curves, and her skin was as white and tender as a freshly peeled water chestnut, with a hint of pink. It made people want to reach out and pinch it, as if they could easily squeeze out water.

She seemed to be in a good mood today, probably because she found clues to the problems at the winery.

"No hurry, aren't you afraid that Yang Bayuan and his men will dig the winery upside down?"

"Uh..." She was stunned for a moment when she heard Shen Yi say that. There were densely built buildings near Shuinan Street where the winery was located. If the breeding farm was right inside her Luoxiangzui Winery, it would most likely be underground. It was hard to rule out that Yang Bayuan would send people to dig underground.

If they really dug it upside down, who knows what kind of mess the winery would be in.

If we were to ask who would be the happiest about finding the clue, it would undoubtedly be Yang Bayuan.

In order to find out the cause of the problems in the winery, even turning the winery upside down would not be a problem for him.

"It should... not be possible, right?" She shook her head uncertainly, and tightened her fur coat.

"Who knows? But if the farm is really underneath the winery, it would be more than just the wine that has a bad smell."

"Yeah, but what else could be unusual in a winery? Could it be... bees?"

"Bee?" Shen Yi was about to laugh at him, but then he thought of something and looked thoughtful.

Don’t say, it seems to be true?

Last time, I followed the old witch into the winery and watched all night. There were still bees outside collecting honey late at night.

Why are bees so hardworking?
People always subconsciously ignore things that they can often see, commonly known as the darkest place under the lamp, but now that I think about it carefully, there seems to be something really wrong with the bees in the winery.

Such small insects are very common. Even though Shen Yi is very familiar with them, he has never studied the habits of bees.

Do bees go out en masse at night to collect honey?
It’s a pity that there is no mobile phone here, so Shen Yi can’t check the information on the spot.

"Hey, it seems like there's really something wrong with the bees in the winery."

"Yes, there are a lot of bees in the winery, but I don't think I've ever seen a beehive." He Jian Chu Yun nodded and said so.

"Yes, there is a little one on the tree at the entrance, but it is very small."

"Let's go and take a look. Do you want to go?"

"Let's go. There's nothing to do anyway."

Having said that, He Jianchuyun didn't waste any time. He stood up and jumped down from the roof with Shen Yi, then found Futian, got on the carriage and left Zhu Mansion.

When they arrived at the winery, they underestimated Yang Bayuan. As soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, he already suspected the bees in the winery, and then took people to observe the movements of those bees.

By the time He Jianchuyun and Shen Yi arrived at the winery, he had already led the workers to dig up a flower bed.

"Miss, you are here! Come in, please!"

"What did you find?"

"Yes, miss! We have found where the farm is. We are having people dig down there now. We will know what it is soon."

Yang Bayuan said respectfully, and just as he finished speaking, someone shouted, "Manager Yang! Miss! We dug something up!"

"what!"

Hearing the workers' voices, He Jianchuyun immediately walked over there and saw that the flower bed had been dug about one meter deep with a hoe, and there was obviously a stone underneath.

This is not an ordinary rock. It is square in shape and is clearly a man-made stone slab.

Yang Bayuan took a look and ordered, "Keep digging! Clear the surrounding soil. I want to see what's underneath!"

"Yes! In charge!"

They had just finished lunch, and since the host, Hatsuun Tsurumi, was not short of money, there was meat in every meal at the winery. The workers were full of energy. They shouted loudly, picked up their tools, swung their arms, and continued to work.

After a while, more soil was dug out of the flower bed, revealing more stone slabs underneath. However, something seemed to have drilled out from the gaps between the slabs. Someone was startled and couldn't help but exclaimed, "What is this!"

He Jianchuyun came over when he heard the sound, and his brows suddenly frowned when he saw the things below.

"This is……"

Shen Yi also stuck his head out to look, and the next moment he narrowed his eyes.

“Is this a bug?”

He didn't know whether this thing should be called a bug, because the thing that crawled out from the cracks in the stone slab did look like a caterpillar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it did not have the characteristics of a caterpillar. Its entire body was mud-colored, just like a strip of brown mud, but it had its own consciousness and could move like a living thing.

What's even more strange is that this thing is not a dead object. It appears bright white in perception and is a real living thing.

Feeling familiar, Shen Yi immediately remembered that day when he was on guard at the winery, the old witch stepped on a caterpillar to death, but he did not find the body after dawn.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but now it seems that the "caterpillar" that Tsurumi Hatsuyun stepped on to death was probably the same species as this thing.

While Shen Yi was thinking about this, a worker raised his hoe and smashed it vertically. The mud worm had no ability to resist at all and exploded on the spot under the gazes of countless people. The juice was exactly the same color as the surrounding mud. In the blink of an eye, the worm corpse merged with the soil and could no longer be found.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. No one present knew what this bug was.

Yang Bayuan reacted and shouted, "Don't just stand there! Smash it!"

Hearing his words, Yang Bo and Li Rong took the lead in throwing away the shovels in their hands, picked up the sledgehammers, and smashed them on the stone slabs without any nonsense.

With everyone's combined efforts, the stone slab soon collapsed under the weight, revealing a passage underneath. However, after seeing the scene inside, people couldn't help but exclaim. The walls of the passage were covered with mud worms like the ones just now. Although there were not many of them, they were attached to them one by one. Seeing them made me feel nauseous because of my trypophobia.

Bees in the corridor were constantly startled and flew out in large numbers.

Yang Bayuan frowned, then immediately asked someone to fetch the torch that had been used to smoke the bees, and threw it in without hesitation, preparing to burn all the mud worms to death.

The flames seemed to have a strong inhibitory effect on these mysterious creatures. Once the fire started, the mud worms quickly lost their vitality and fell from the wall one by one.

Later, someone discovered that direct skin contact with these insects did not seem to cause any harm except for a sticky feeling, so several workers volunteered, took off their shirts and jumped in with torches in hand.

The corridor under the stone slab is not only narrow but also low. It can only accommodate one person, and one has to bend over to barely pass through.

Seeing that the mud worms inside had been almost cleared, Yang Bayuan followed Li Rong and jumped into the tunnel.

He Jianchuyun thought about it, looked at Shen Yi, and then entered the corridor.

The workers around wanted to dissuade her. After all, the corridor was filled with a strong earthy smell that made people dizzy, and the ground was covered with mud. They were afraid that she would dirty her clothes after coming in.

However, Tsurumi Hatsuyun insisted on entering, and the workers had no choice but to give up.

There were quite a few people who entered the corridor, twelve in total, split into two groups, one going forward and the other going backward. He Jianchuyun was just behind Yang Bayuan. The strong earthy smell in the corridor made her frown. She had no choice but to use her spiritual power to block her sense of smell, and then she felt a little better.

Shen Yi also followed, but he did not enter the corridor himself, because those mud worms were disgusting, so he cunningly chose to enter the old witch's consciousness space and comfortably watched the mobile surveillance camera He Jianchuyun performing outside.

The corridor extended downward, getting deeper and deeper. Not long after walking, everyone felt that the road ahead suddenly became wider. They came to a small secret room. This should be the end of the corridor, but correspondingly, the earthy smell in the air became stronger, making everyone dare not breathe too hard.

Once you use force, the stench will rush straight up to your head, as if it's going to suffocate your soul.

Yang Bayuan twisted his face and crushed the mud worms that had missed the wall into pieces with one foot.

After hesitating for a moment, he reached out his hand and rubbed the place where the mud worms were stepped on to death, then put it in front of his nose and smelled it.

"Ugh~"

The stench was so bad that his facial features twisted and he couldn't control himself at all. He retched and choked on tears.

"Miss……"

"what happened?"

"This smell..."

"Stay away from me!" He Jianchuyun took a few steps back, looking at Yang Bayuan with disdain in his eyes.

She really didn't understand the other party. It should have been smelly enough, so why did it have to have the smell of those disgusting bugs?

"No miss, it's the smell of the bug... ahem, it's very similar to the odor in the wine."

"Hmm?" He Jianchuyun raised his eyebrows and understood something.

"You mean to say that the problem with the wine is all due to this bug?"

"Yes……"

Walking out of the corridor and entering the basement at the end, the worker walking in front raised a torch, and the light of the flame instantly illuminated the surroundings. Seeing this scene in front of them, the two workers gasped.

Sensing something, Shen Yi released his senses and reached forward, his expression suddenly becoming strange.

"Old witch."

"uh-huh?"

"You have to be mentally prepared for what's to come."

"what?"

She didn't understand, but after using her senses to check, her face changed. As she and Yang Bayuan came out of the corridor, the scene in front of them still made her take a few steps back.

The area of ​​this secret room is indeed not large. Shen Yi estimated that it is about two hundred square meters and the interior height is about five meters.

Under the light of the fire, the scene in the basement could only be described as horrifying.

The ground was densely packed with mud bugs, so dense that it almost completely covered the ground. Not only the ground, but also the surrounding walls were covered with mud bugs of all sizes. It was simply good news for people with trypophobia.

When I raised my hand, I saw layers of beehives on the ceiling. Countless bees were flying around the hives, making a continuous buzzing sound.

Tsurumi Hatsuyun's pretty face turned pale. After seeing this scene, she felt sick all over. She took a step back in fear, but still suppressed the discomfort in her heart and continued to observe the beehive above her head.

However, the densely packed cells of the beehive did not contain any mouth-watering honey, but rather black mud larvae. She clearly saw that some bees had returned from collecting nectar and fed the nectar to the larvae. From the cells of other beehives not far away, fully formed mud worms fell from time to time, increasing the number of the insect colony.

Not only that, the area that can truly be called the hardest-hit area is the long altar in front. No one knows what is placed on it, but there are dozens of times more mud worms attached to it than in other places, as if they are absorbing something.

Behind the altar, there was a black mass curled up on the wall. At first, Tsurumi Hatsuyun thought it was also a beehive, but soon she realized something was wrong. She turned pale and shouted, "Get out of the way!"

Although they didn't know what was happening, when everyone started to react, they paid attention to the bugs on the ground and the wall and dodged to the sides.

Behind the altar, the mysterious black object suddenly moved, extending a slimy fleshy petal and grabbing straight towards Tsurumi Hatsuun.

Seeing that its target was his young lady, Yang Bayuan didn't care about anything else and quickly turned back waving the torch.

Fortunately, the thing was not very powerful. Even though Yang Bayuan only had the cultivation level of the straight level, he was still able to force the outstretched flesh petals back.

"Miss, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He Jianchuyun shook her head with a frown. For some reason, she felt very strange. The thing seemed to be staring at her and ignoring everyone else.

Perhaps realizing that it couldn't move her, the black object slowly unfolded itself. All of a sudden, all the mud worms in the basement seemed to have received some kind of call, and they all began to crawl towards it.

As the mud worms left, the objects on the altar were revealed.

They were corpses, their skin dry and blackened. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were skeletons covered with bones.

But the moment they saw these corpses, both He Jianchuyun and Shen Yi were stunned, as if they had seen something they could not understand.

"Oh my god! What the hell is this thing!"

"This……"

In the basement, not only the mud worms are alive, the black creatures are alive, and even the skeleton corpses on the altar are alive!
Didn't die!
"The living dead?"

...(End of chapter)